Leo

leo1Louise’s tarotscope: I want to talk about the idea of feeling strong and brave, and feeling weak, too, which may have come up in 2015. We often think that we have strengths and weaknesses that we should constantly be improving, but I want you to think about yourself as evolving, and return to the idea of yourself as not being broken. Strength isn’t something that arises out of not being weak. We don’t suddenly feel strong and brave from shoving that one “weakness” down into a corner. We never have to put on a brave face, although we often feel like we have to!

Over these coming weeks, say, “I’m not broken, there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m not supposed to be a superhero in the face of everything. I’m allowed to feel all my feelings.” I love the idea that when we’re worried or anxious we ask for help. Sometimes we help someone else by asking for help. Life isn’t about winning or losing, passing or failing. I know this can be a big thing especially at school, where work is graded, and we’re constantly hammered with the notion of failing and passing. Outside of school, we sometimes hold on to that idea of failure, and I believe that it’s a word humans made up to feel bad about themselves, because it doesn’t bring anything enlightening to us! I ditched failure from my personal dictionary because I realized if I worried about failure, I couldn’t move forward. If you’re worried about not being good at something, it’s time to shift your thought about it in your head: If something didn’t work out the way you wanted it to, that means there’s something better ahead. When we don’t get things we really want, it clears space! That didn’t work out, but something’s going to come in its place, is a gentle way to think when we’re disappointed. Let something new come in that will suit you better. Your own strength comes out of your vulnerability. I feel my strongest when I’ve allowed myself to feel a bit sad about things when I need to. We feel strongest when we’re able to be honest about where we are. With Leo, it’s natural to think you’ve got to put on a brave face, but if you decide to admit a worry, nobody’s going to suddenly run away in shock and disgust, they’ll probably just say, “Me too!” Sometimes the most powerful thing we can give to someone else is a “me too!” moment. Share everything, because you’ll make a connection around a joint sense of strength created by just being yourself. That’s why in tarot, the lion symbolizes strength, which is the taming of our own fears.

leo001

Dylan’s advice: Leo—a fiery fire sign if there ever was one!—you can commune with your element at the beginning of this year to clear space for yourself and keep your creative flame stoked, rather than burning out. Allow yourself to be vulnerable and build more lasting and powerful muscle that way. Set a fire in the fireplace or in a fire pit (be safe with it!), and as it crackles to life, write down on little slips of paper the things that you wanted to work out that didn’t, decisions that went a different way than you desired, and other events of the past year that you have deemed failures. If you didn’t get into your dream school and you’re feeling down about yourself, burn it! If you wrote an assignment that you felt was killer but your teacher didn’t get it, burn it! If some event or relationship you thought was going to save, redeem, or complete you in some way in 2015 turned out to, surprise, not make your life perfect after all, BURN! IT! These disappointments or unexpected turns can be released in a fire, so that your slate is clean without any attachments or resentments clinging to past unfulfilled outcomes. If a real fire isn’t an option, you can do this: Symbolically light a candle instead, and tear the paper to shreds! This is inspired by the Reiki ritual called the burning bowl ceremony, where the objective is to clear your energy of old wants, wishes, and coulda-shouldas, in order to make the space for new surprises and more open doors in our lives.